Fear the Reaper

There’s going to be a press conference at 1pm at the federal building in Seattle to discuss “Operation Green Reaper.” Can someone from the media please ask them whether the “green” in the operation name is supposed to refer to the pot plants they found or to the taxpayer money that was wasted?

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Hmmmm,in response to some macho strutting by Mike Fancher, Editor at Large, at The Seattle Times over how they moderate their blog comments, I posted a comment yesterday criticizing the Times for the appearance of censorship in moderating it’s blog comments and maintaining a second rate website and, after eighteen hours, my comment has not appeared ; apparently it has been censored.

If as Mike Fancher writes “The Times doesn’t allow inflammatory or objectionable comments, comments that are off-topic, personal attacks or obscene language.” it isn’t difficult to suspect them of not allowing comments critical of Saint Paul, for instance, or other members of the wealthy elite who run this town or comments criticizing their grand schemes for which we the taxpayers pay and they profit.

The Seattle Times still has a good deal of ability to influence matters here in Seattle, but their best days are behind them.

The US has 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prisoners. We are one of the few countries in the world that locks people up for non-violent crimes. In 1980 there were 40,000 people locked up for drug offenses, today there are over half a million.

The US has 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prisoners. We are one of the few countries in the world that locks people up for non-violent crimes. In 1980 there were 40,000 people locked up for drug offenses, today there are over half a million.

From 1981 to 1996, according to Justice Department statistics, the risk of punishment rose in the United States and fell in England. The crime rates predictably moved in the opposite directions, falling in the United States and rising in England. “These figures,” Mr. Cassell wrote, “should give one pause before too quickly concluding that European sentences are appropriate.” Other commentators were more definitive. “The simple truth is that imprisonment works,” wrote Kent Scheidegger and Michael Rushford of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in The Stanford Law and Policy Review. “Locking up criminals for longer periods reduces the level of crime. The benefits of doing so far offset the costs.”http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04.....oref=login

What’s your point? That you are against incarcerating criminals because it makes the streets safer? (my link is the same as the one he quoted)

#9. ewp spews: The US has 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prisoners. We are one of the few countries in the world that locks people up for non-violent crimes. In 1980 there were 40,000 people locked up for drug offenses, today there are over half a million.

From 1981 to 1996, according to Justice Department statistics, the risk of punishment rose in the United States and fell in England. The crime rates predictably moved in the opposite directions, falling in the United States and rising in England. “These figures,” Mr. Cassell wrote, “should give one pause before too quickly concluding that European sentences are appropriate.” Other commentators were more definitive. “The simple truth is that imprisonment works,” wrote Kent Scheidegger and Michael Rushford of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in The Stanford Law and Policy Review. “Locking up criminals for longer periods reduces the level of crime. The benefits of doing so far offset the costs.”http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04.....oref=login

What’s your point? That you are against incarcerating criminals because it makes the streets safer? [my link is the same article ewp quoted)

@11 Marvin, All you have to do is look at the crime rates from 1996 to now to know that that study has already been thoroughly discredited. We kept imprisoning people, but the crime rate started going up again. In the early 90s, crime rates went way down in this country. Now they’re going up. Our rate of imprisonment was increasing during both of those trends. How many people we put in jail is only a small factor in the overall crime rate (usually an indirect one).

“What’s your point? That you are against incarcerating criminals because it makes the streets safer?”

So, let’s pass a law that makes it a crime to be a member of the Republican Party. We’ll incarcerate all those people, and, by mere virtue of the fact that these people are incarcerated, overall crime rates will drop. Sound like a good idea to you?

The issue isn’t sentencing (which is what Mr. Cassell was addressing), but the nature of the offenses that we choose to regard as crimes.

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